A new Physical Therapy Now franchise in Cape Coral is currently under construction at a new mini mall on the southwest corner of Nicholas Parkway and Pine Island Road which will also include a Dunkin'. The business is slated to open next month.(Photo: Ricardo Rolon, Ricardo Rolon/The News-Press USA TODAY NETWORK - FLORIDA)

This comment got Lipinski up and out of his chair.

“Look at the sign above the front door,” he said.

We walked outside and looked.

“Dunkin’,” it said. The word “donuts” was nowhere to be found. Inside, the back wall was adorned with another sign: “Cape Coral runs on Dunkin’.” Another sign on the side simply says "DD".

About 16,000 people moved to Lee County in the past year. In keeping with Dunkin’s corporate philosophy, it’s no surprise that more locations have followed.

“Dunkin’ likes to have one store for every 7,000 people,” Lipinski said. There are 25 Dunkin’s in Lee County, about one for every 30,000 people. So there is room to grow.

“The company joke is that if you want a Dunkin’, we can put a Dunkin’ in your backyard,” he said.

Lipinski showed off some other differences in this store compared to existing ones.

The coffee taps look like beer taps with tall, white labels affixed to them. The donuts, baked on site, will be stored in a front glass case instead of against the back wall.

Michael Koroghlian, a daily Dunkin' customer, escaped a New York City banking job in 2006, when he bought his first Dunkin’ franchise in Fort Lauderdale. He sold all of those and bought 15 in Collier County in 2016. He has been expanding in Southwest Florida ever since and owns the 27 locations.

Dropping “donut” from the brand name follows a national trend.

“It was probably time,” Koroghlian said. “The reason they really did it is Dunkin’ is expanding west. Those people aren’t as familiar with Dunkin’.

“Fifty percent of my business is coffee. Only about 20 percent of my business is donuts. It’s really an east coast brand. So people on the west coast, they think of Dunkin’ Donuts as only a donut place. It’s the same as Domino’s Pizza: Dominos. Panera Bread: Panera. Starbucks coffee: Starbucks.”

Jussara Campos of Cape Coral will manage the new Cape Coral store.

“People think of Dunkin’ as a big chain, but all of our stores are locally owned and operated,” Koroghlian said. “I live in Naples. All of my teams work and live in Fort Myers, Cape Coral and Naples.

“She has been with me for 13 years. Her sister will run the one on Colonial. Her brother-in-law runs the one on Palm Beach Boulevard. It’s a family enterprise. We’re as mom and pop as you can get.”

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DUNKIN’ ON COLONIAL

The new standalone Dunkin’ at 3301 Colonial Blvd., just east of Metro Parkway, is slated to open mid-July.

“That’s going to be a big store with some unique things,” Koroghlian said. “They will have the new tap system. That store will be the first one in South Florida with a second drive-through lane for people who place an on-the-go mobile order. An order on the Dunkin’ app. You won’t have to sit in line. You’re in and out.”

Koroghlian said he preferred standalone locations but wasn’t against being in a strip shopping center either.

“It’s just a matter of real estate,” he said. “My preference is always a freestanding store because if I can buy the real estate, I can control it. But there are times when landlords have land too big for me to buy. That works out nicely, and the other tenants love it because we drive so much traffic to the center.”

DUNKIN' IN BONITA

Another Dunkin' is in the works for 11671 Bonita Beach Road, near I-75, along with a Sherwin-Williams paint store. Those are about a year from completion.

THE TREND IN NEW CENTERS

The new Cape Coral Dunkin’ anchors the east end of a five-unit center, the latest in an area trend of mini-strips.

“They’re very, very profitable,” said Gary Tasman, CEO and commercial real estate broker with Cushman & Wakefield in Fort Myers. His firm has represented similar centers in Fort Myers and Cape Coral. “They’re really, really popular. They’re usually located next to a demand generator but not in the same center. It could be an apartment complex. It could be a grocery store.”

This one is across the street and catty-corner from a Walmart Neighborhood Market.

Pearl Vision, Verizon Wireless and Physical Therapy Now are the other confirmed three tenants. Two more of 1,500 square feet are yet to be filled. Bob Pekol of LandQwest is managing the property, which was bought late in 2016 by Nicholas Commons LLC and Christopher Spence for $1 million, property records show.

“That’s a perfect tenant mix for those kinds of centers,” Tasman said. “The fifth tenant would be something like a banker or a Chinese restaurant or that type of thing.”

Pekol said rent runs about $30 per square foot, plus operating expenses in those types of centers but could cost more if they are in a hotter real estate market.

"Visibility, access and proximity to big box retailers, high density residential population, high traffic roads and areas with high daytime population also affect the rental rates," Pekol said.

Leasing a 1,500-square-foot unit could start at $4,500 per month, plus expenses.

Stultz Inc. is finishing construction of the shopping center.

“I don’t know if it’s the future, but it’s certainly the present,” said Jeff Stultz, vice president of the company, of the small unit trend. “There are so many big box centers out there. Smallers strips are what work best. There’s only so many non-food retailers out there these days. So when you develop a center, you usually put a restaurant on one end. You can have a drive-through. In a lot of places, food is what’s kind of driving things. They can pay enough rent to facilitate building a new shopping center.”

Stultz is also building a new dental office across the street from the same center.

“Business is great for construction these days,” Stultz said. “We’re as busy as can be.”

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Physical Therapy Now, a Miami-based business with more than 20 locations across Florida, is set to open in Cape Coral.
Ricardo Rolon, Fort Myers News-Press

PHYSICAL THERAPY NOW

Cape Coral couple Kim and Jeff Johner cannot contain their excitement. They are pioneering the new business Physical Therapy Now in the same shopping center and looking to follow Dunkin’ as the second tenant to open.

Physical Therapy Now, a Miami-based business with more than 20 locations across Florida, looks to heal patients by appointment or walk-in with no prescriptions from doctors needed. Most insurances are accepted there.

Kim, a registered nurse who worked at Gulf Coast Village in Cape Coral for six years, and Jeff, a nuclear medicine technologist for Lee Health, bought three franchises. The second will be in a similar shopping center in Fort Myers, where they are still negotiating the lease. They have yet to decide on the third location. Each will provide about four jobs.

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From left, Tom Hafer, Kim Johner and Jeff Johner, pictured here on Monday, May 6, 2019, will partner in developing a new Physical Therapy Now franchise in Cape Coral currently under construction at a new mini mall on the southwest corner of Nicholas Parkway and Pine Island Road. The business is slated to open next month. Ricardo Rolon, Ricardo Rolon/The News-Press USA TODAY NETWORK - FLORIDA

A new Physical Therapy Now franchise in Cape Coral is currently under construction at a new mini mall on the southwest corner of Nicholas Parkway and Pine Island Road which will also include a Dunkin'. The business is slated to open next month. Ricardo Rolon, Ricardo Rolon/The News-Press USA TODAY NETWORK - FLORIDA

From left, Tom Hafer, Kim Johner and Jeff Johner, pictured here on Monday, May 6, 2019, will partner in developing a new Physical Therapy Now franchise in Cape Coral currently under construction at a new mini mall on the southwest corner of Nicholas Parkway and Pine Island Road. The business is slated to open next month. Ricardo Rolon, Ricardo Rolon/The News-Press USA TODAY NETWORK - FLORIDA

A new Physical Therapy Now franchise in Cape Coral is currently under construction at a new mini mall on the southwest corner of Nicholas Parkway and Pine Island Road which will also include a Dunkin'. The business is slated to open next month. Ricardo Rolon, Ricardo Rolon/The News-Press USA TODAY NETWORK - FLORIDA

From left, Tom Hafer, Kim Johner and Jeff Johner, pictured here on Monday, May 6, 2019, will partner in developing a new Physical Therapy Now franchise in Cape Coral currently under construction at a new mini mall on the southwest corner of Nicholas Parkway and Pine Island Road. The business is slated to open next month. Ricardo Rolon, Ricardo Rolon/The News-Press USA TODAY NETWORK - FLORIDA

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They are focusing on establishing the Cape Coral therapy center first. They have hired their friend and pastor Tom Hafer, who has the unique combo of being a licensed physical therapist and an associate pastor at Faith Presbyterian with a masters’ in theology from Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia.

“I’ve always thought a physical therapist should be more than just physical therapy,” Hafer said. “When you fix an injury, there might still be some psychological baggage. If somebody is hurting in some way, it’s not always just physically.”

The therapy center, nestled into about 1,500 square feet, will have a massage therapy room, artificial turf and a consultation room.

“Our goal is to get people with physical ailments back to being active again,” Jeff Johner said.

Dr. Ed Dupay, a longtime area orthopedic surgeon, will be a consulting physician.

Physical Therapy Now will have an open house 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, July 12 at the Cape Coral shopping center.

Andy Zapata of Miami founded the company in 2010 and began franchising it in 2016. There are more than 20 locations.

“We’re very excited,” Zapata said. “It’s going to be our first location on the west coast. More exciting, Kim is what I call a rock star. I can’t wait to see her shine over there.”

Keystone Place at Four Mile Cove, an assisted and independent living facility, is set to open this summer in Cape Coral.(Photo: Special to The News-Press)

CAPE CORAL ASSISTED LIVING

Keystone Place at Four Mile Cove is slated to open in June, first as an independent-living community before growing into an assisted-living community as well. Located at 1701 Four Mile Cove, just north of Veterans Parkway and off Del Prado Boulevard, Keystone Place is billing itself as the city’s first, full-service rental independent living retirement community.

It will have vaulted ceilings, three dining settings and secure pathways for residents with dementia. There will be 140 units with this breakdown: Independent living 60, assisted living 48 and memory care 32. Monthly rent for a one-bedroom, 732-square foot apartment starts at just under $3,000. For more information, go to: Keystoneplaceatfourmilecove.com. An open house will be held 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. It will provide 60-75 jobs.

THANK HEAVEN

The newest 7-Eleven to open in Cape Coral and the 82nd in Lee County will celebrate its grand opening with free food samples, free coffee and Big Gulp drinks from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, at 2327 Andalusia Blvd. in Cape Coral. The store also will give a $711 donation to Diplomat Middle School.

THANK HEAVEN AGAIN

A ground-up, 3,500-square-foot 7-Eleven with 16 fueling stations, to be located at 5431 Pine Island Road in St. James City on Pine Island near the corner of Pine Island Road and Nikkis Lane, is being developed by Creighton Construction. The site will also feature a car wash and REC-90 boat fuel. It is expected to open this fall.